ComicCon '07
I am doing everything I can to avoid going down to San Diego for ComicCon this year. So when I say that the event jumped the shark last year, I will understand if some of you point and laugh. But like Steve Martin
May 14, 2024
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
I didn’t see it, but I thought Eragon actually made money.
The only interest I had in going was the anouncement of the Star Trek cast, but that’ll be on line five minutes after it happens so there’s no point in going.
Of course now that I’ve outed myself as a Star Trek fan I can point out that I’ve noticed that the convention thing seems to be fading.
With the internet you can get the same information and meet the people you would normally go to a convention for.
There seems to be fewer events and the attendence is dropping.
DP,
As mentioned in the other thread, it’s the timing of the decision that is amusing. If WB or Uni pulled out, I’m not sure it gets as much run. But because it’s FOX, which is still muddling through this “Who sees what and when” behind the scenes this week, the timing is amusing.
All of your points about a studio’s reluctance to attend ComiCon are valid. But it mirrors the studio’s current feelings toward the net.
Years ago, the studios courted the ComiCon audience. Big time. Being able to tap into your Geek 8 (good term) was like opening a new toy at Christmas. “You mean we just show them 30 seconds of unfinished footage and they’ll actually go home and write about us?! Where do I sign up?”
They did the same thing with AICN, Dark Horizons, CHUD, et al. “Watch this in advance and write about us. Please!”
Now, they’re tired of playing the game with the movie gossip sites and geek conventions THAT THE STUDIOS THEMSELVES helped to make so popular.
The studios made this bed. They shouldn’t kill Goldie-Geek just because she still chooses to sleep in it.
Fox is apparently out.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/comiccon/2007/07/20th-century-fo.html
Ooops. Misread the bit up top. Nevermind me.
$75 million domestic for Eragon… a bust. It was saved, however, by $175m international.
I moved here in 1985 and in 1986 went to my first Comicon. It rocked- a small auditorium near the train station, full of comics and fans. Sometime in the early 1990s it moved to the new Conventions Center. It remained cool. In 1994 we screened NATURAL BORN KILLERS there before it opened. Scratchy sound, bed sheet screen. People didn’t know what to make of it. IT was no big deal. For most of the 90s I went because I loved it. Yes I got to know Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, James Robinson etc etc- most of the biggies. And yes, I would set up movies with these guys, because this was my world that I loved. I guess for a minute or two I was King Geek in a building full of them. Big deal no, but fun.
As of last year (which more than jumped the shark) the event is just fucked. This started around 2001, when every idiot suit in town thought they could find un-mined gold there while pimping the fan base. It is now a joke. I get moron development types coming up to me every 30 minutes- “Did you find anything?” and I tell them no, asshole, I found everything I wanted before I came here. I could not WALK last year and Susan and I left early.
We were planning on skipping this year then New Line scheduled a screening and Clive Owen panel. So we’re going. But it isn’t ComiCon it is WhoreCon and I guess we’re all for sale.
Brokeback Trek?
“I wish I could quit you.” “That’s not logical Jim, besides once you’ve had the Pon Phar you never go back?
The geeks do matter…. a lot.
According to Warner’s polls(via AICN), 60% of 300 audience chose the Internet as what brought them to the theater to watch 300.
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31895
i’m not calling anybody a liar, but that’s kinda like asking the geeks if the geeks matter.
I notice that Harry doesn’t cite any sources, meaning that this was something fed to him to make him happy.
Pun not intended.
Masturbation aside, Marychan, there is no studio on the planet that thinks there is a $42 million opening that has every been based on geek websites.
Rememeber, web includes Yahoo!, Google, all the ticketing sites and all the Traditional Media sites that are on the web.
I’m not saying that Hot Fuzz would have done $24 million domestic without the geeks. I am saying that about 2/3s of that is what you can reasonably expect from that particular niche in total, 1/3 on opening weekend.
On the very narrow side, Hostel II – $8.2m to a $17.6m total
On the positive side, The Descent – $8.9m to a $26m total
The Geek 8… learn it, live it, love it.
“… the sure-to-be-booed Hayden Christensen”; oh come on Miami Heat. Let it go. I saw you on G4. You are a brother not even close to being down with the geek conscience. It’s alright though. You are one smooth Hollywood brother. That counts for something!
Silly aside; Comic-Con does what it does now … it starts promotional campaigns for toys, memorabilia, TV shows, DVD releases, comics, and movies. It’s a starting point for all of pop-culture over the next year. Think of it as the Wrestlemania of Pop-Culture. A ridiculous spectacle that is overblown, overhyped, but does it’s job to get people hyped.
This spectacle may not be everyone’s idea of a good time. However, it is a great way to get people intered in projects, that they otherwise might not give a crap about. That seems to be the point. For good or ill of the con itself.
“So when I say that the event jumped the shark last year, I will understand if some of you point and laugh.”
DP, you’ve been condescending towards Comic-Con for as long as I’ve been reading you. If you hate it as much as you seem to, please don’t come. For some of us, it’s the best time of year, and a chance to be with like-minded people. Those of you who don’t get it are condescending enough the rest of the year. Let us have our week.
Oh, right…if a director you like invites you down to moderate a panel, all of a sudden it’s all good.
Sorry you don’t like it, Dave, but for me it’s the most fun of the year. Sure, not every Con is going to have the most exciting movies, but it’s a nice chance to see all the people I know in this nerdy community and knock back a couple with the friendlier publicists. It’s a networking bonanza, and it’s just a fun weekend.
Also, come see my panel on Sunday! I may vomit.
Is that a threat or a promise?
>>>>and I guess we’re all for sale.
Of that there was never a doubt.
Actually, Luke, my position on the event has evolved as the event has evolved. And now, as was inevitable, I will be going down for one evening for a particular event that interests me… same if I come down to do a panel or something.
Macro/Micro… not the same.
I’m not saying you can’t enjoy it. I’m not saying you shouldn’t enjoy it. I am saying that I think it has passed the height of its usefulness as a marketing platform. And that’s why the studios are there and why the media overhypes it.
As a geek convention, it works great. The question for everyone who spends big money to use it as a platform is whether the benefit of being part of that convention is worth the cost and energy expended.
I do agree with David that Comic-Con doesn’t necessarily add up to the box office. I remember the one year where they had promos for Aeon Flux, Doom, The Fog and other dogs…but I do think that it does help raise some awareness among an important crowd. I’m sure the trailer for Exorcism of Emily Rose got a lot of people excited about that movie at a good time of the summer for it to kill the normally slow post-Labor Day slot.
I’m not crazy about the con myself and this might be my last year cause we have plenty of younger staff who are happy to run around and gush over the stars. Not that I’m not just as excited about hearing about Watchmen or seeing some footage from Iron Man, but it really is a lot of work and I feel that I don’t do my best writing while trying to get everything in.
Also, I think it’s bad that Fox won’t be able to show Babylon AD or Hitman there, two movies that could use the awareness which a well-placed trailer/teaser/clip could do. But if they end up delaying it until the spring (like they did with Pathfinder), what’s the point?